Best PlacesBoca Raton, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boca Raton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Boca Raton ranks 149th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $114,255, wages outrun the cost of living, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are summer heat, disaster risk, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Boca Raton
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Boca Raton
The parts of Boca Raton, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Whisper Trace & St Andrews Hills
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Lake Floresta Park, Pinelands East & Country Club Village
Fewer homes sit empty, though fewer households have young kids.
Mission Bay, Mizner Pointe of Boca Via Ancho & Boca Isles South
Scores close to Lake Floresta Park, Pinelands East & Country Club Village, except that it is quieter here.
Bramalea, Boca Raton Square & Boca Hamlet
More residents vote, though biking is worse.
Century Village West & Whisper Walk
Streets are more car-dependent and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Estoville & Palmetto Park
Homes cost more and prices have run up more.
Windwood, Chatham Hills & Mizner Park
Heat risk is lower, though health care is harder to reach.
Sandalfoot Cove & Country Park at Boca Raton
Commutes are longer.
Boca Teeca, Hidden Valley & Villa Rica
Crime runs higher.
Boca Raton shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 11% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Boca Raton's strengths and weaknesses
Boca Raton lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Good schools is the standout, in the top 3% of cities. State infrastructure and health care access follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Disaster risk and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Boca Raton ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 97% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of cities
Where Boca Raton ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 11% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Boca Raton
A household needs to earn about $168,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boca Raton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $114,255, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Boca Raton's effective rate of 0.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Boca Raton
Boca Raton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Boca Raton.
Who works in Boca Raton, and how
Work in Boca Raton centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Boca Raton
Boca Raton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Boca Raton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Boca Raton, month by month
Boca Raton sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 76, with lows near 62. The comfortable stretch runs December through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 76° | 70° | 62° |
| April | 84° | 78° | 71° |
| July | 92° | 86° | 79° |
| October | 86° | 81° | 76° |
Flying in and out of Boca Raton
The nearest airport, Fort Lauderdale Exec, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International, about 20 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boca Raton
Schools across Boca Raton average an A, better than 97% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Waters Edge Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Calusa Elementary SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Addison Mizner SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
Top middle schools
- Don Estridge High Tech Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Loggers' Run Community Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Omni Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Spanish River Community High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- West Boca Raton High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Boca Raton Community High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boca Raton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boca Raton measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Boca Raton against the other 444 cities.
Who Boca Raton suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Boca Raton
Is Boca Raton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boca Raton ranks 149th of 445 cities. It scores highest on good schools, state infrastructure, and health care access, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boca Raton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $641,060. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $114,255 median income, cost of living beats 73% of cities.
Is Boca Raton safe?
Yes, Boca Raton is safer than 70% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $205 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Boca Raton?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 76 with lows near 62. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Boca Raton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Whisper Trace & St Andrews Hills, Lake Floresta Park, Pinelands East & Country Club Village, and Mission Bay, Mizner Pointe of Boca Via Ancho & Boca Isles South. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Boca Raton good for families?
Schools beat 97% of cities, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $1,238 a month.
Is Boca Raton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 63% of cities. About 24% of workers already work from home.
Compare Boca Raton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boca Raton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boca Raton represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Boca Raton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boca Raton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boca Raton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boca Raton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boca Raton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boca Raton detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.